The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-05-11

quest of DIR. Draper some Of the most
prominent physicians Of Salisbury
agreed to eXhume the body and make
careful examination of the skull. Mar
shall Ney's skull was trephined, and if
this skull was found 10 have been sim
ilarly oprated upon it would be practical
ly conclusive proof.
Among the pieces of evidence to aid.
the assertion made by many here that
Marshal Ney was this school teacher was
this:
A Frenchman from an adjoining coun.
ty, who had been a soldier under Mar
shal Ney and afterwards moved to Amer
lea, was at public gathering in States
vile one day and recognized the school
teacher as his old commander. He threw
up his hands and exclaimed: "Mon
Dieu! Marshal Neyr' Without demon
stration, Ney called his name, and with
his right hand waved him off, placing
the index finger over his mouth, indicat-(
ing silence. Both men soon left the
crowd and were afterwards seen in pri-
vate conference.
Four days after the battle of Waterloo
Marshal Ney, in speech before the
Court of Peers, advised treaty Of peace,
and publicly announced his deterIhina-
ton to 60 to America, thus showing his
try.
A gentleman who nursed Peter Ney,
and was with him in death and at his
burial, said to-day that Ney was perfect
ly conscious at the time, and that he
talked about his wife ard children, and
stated several times while on his DEATH
bed that he was Marshal Ney and repeat
ed it not an hour before his death. In
dressing him for burial he found that
Ney had been wounded on the thigh,
neck, side and wrist and had large scar,
like sabre cut, on the head. -
After consultation, this day was decid-
ed upon for the exhumation, and at an
early hour the citizens of the surround
ing country and neighboring towns began
to come in, and soon large crowd had
gathered around the quiet. little country
church. In the assenblage were many
of Ney's pupils, these being old men
now, their ages ranging from 60 to rs
years.
Att o'clock the physician in charge an
nounced that they had no pecuniary-iH>
terest in the matter, and that the exhum-
alton was merely in the interest of histo-
ry. When the grave was opened nothing
was found except few Of the largest
bones, some coffin nails and small rem
nant of one plank. The gentlemen in
charge made the following report:
"The undersigned physicians wish to
state that, according to previous notice,
we did to-day cause to be exhumed the
remains Of Peter S. Ney, in the presence
Of great many witnesses, some Of them
from Washington, d. c., Raleigh, N. c.,
and other parts Of the country. We
found some Of the bones only, and these
in state of such decay that we cannot
state positively whether the skull had,
ever been trephined or not. We made
dilligent search for the bullets said to
have been lodged in the body, but found
none.
1--WE succeeded so far, however, as to
ascertain that the skleton was about five
feet and ten inches long, and the skull,
around above the eyes, about twenty-four
inches in circumference"
This statement was signed by nine Of
the most prominent physicians in this
section. The skull measured seven and
three-fourths inches across the foreh BAD,
and eight inches from point above the
eyes to the rear of the head. The right
side was well preserved, but the left,
where the wound was, had crumbled.
All the bones were retul ned to the grave:
Let this days work prove what it may,
it will be long time before those
straightforward and honest people can be
induced to change their long cherished
opinion that their old teacher and friend
was any other than Marshal Ney.-Nea0s
and Courier.